Vernon RV dwellers Lee and Sondra Watkins received a “final victory” while watching Monday’s city council meeting – they won't have to pay fines for their living arrangement.
Council voted Monday to waive the $2,800 in fines the Watkins incurred since August of this year.
They had been receiving bylaw tickets for living in their RV on a family farm at 6530 Eagle Rd.
“We're very happy that there's a final victory here and the fines have been waived,” Lee Watkins said upon hearing the news.
But he was “fired up” by some of council's comments.
Mayor Victor Cumming was against waiving the fines.
“(We’re) very appreciative of all the other council members, but Coun. Guy and Mayor Cumming, (we’re) not so happy about how they've handled this," said Watkins.
Cumming said the fines should not be rescinded. Using speeding tickets as an example, Cumming said if someone were fined for speeding and then the limit is changed, the tickets wouldn't be rescinded.
“For me, it's a point in time. When change happens in the future, it affects the future. when you have bylaws in place for the past, it affects the past,” said Cumming.
Coun. Akbal Mund, who brought forward the motion to waive the fines, said council asked for city rules to be changed in December of 2022. Mund called the RV fines a special case and said if council had been proactive changing its bylaw, the fines wouldn’t have been levied in the first place.
Cumming pointed out that council asked for text amendments, not a full bylaw change.
Council voted to waive the fines with Cumming and Coun. Brian Guy dissenting. Coun. Kari Gares recused herself from the discussion.
The decision comes after council agreed to align its policies with the Agricultural Land Commission, which allows recreational vehicle secondary suites on ALR land.
Watkins said he was disappointed the mayor didn’t seem to have the same outlook as “99 per cent of the community, and council.”
